
For years, yoga has been hailed as a cure for just about every ailment under the sun, to the extent that some skeptics view yoga’s claims of holistic healing as New Age quackery. The fact is, however, while yoga’s benefits are not supernatural, it’s fairly hard to exaggerate the pervasiveness of its positive effects. And at universities from New Haven to New Delhi, the scientific community is coming forth with peer-reviewed numbers to back up the “ancient wisdom.” Here is just a cross-section of the ways that regular yoga practice can benefit your total well-being: